The Grammy week celebration that brought a well-heeled crowd to the Four Seasons Hotel ballroom Wednesday got a little out of hand right off the bat. Somebody asked the evening’s honored guests, songwriters and producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, to name their favorite of the thousands of songs they’ve created together.

“I’d have to go back to the first one,” said Huff. “ ‘Cowboys to Girls,’ by the Intruders.”

Moments later, the crowd started shouting.

“Back Stabbers”!

“If You Don’t Know Me by Now”!

“You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”!

“ ‘Love Is the Message’ by MFSB! I had that one on eight-track!”

“You must be older than me,” the 64-year-old Gamble replied, chuckling, to that particular fan.

It’s hard to decide on one Gamble and Huff song. Not only did these favorite sons of Philadelphia shape soul classics by the O’Jays, the Spinners, the Three Degrees, Lou Rawls and Teddy Pendergrass, but their adventurous arrangements also set the template for disco, and their grooves still inform hip-hop.

The pair’s roster of players and songwriting collaborators was renowned for virtuosity, inventiveness and class. Tracks like “T.S.O.P.” by MFSB expanded the definition of instrumental pop, blending funky rhythms with classical string flourishes and a sense of sonic space that matched any psychedelic rock excursion.

That accomplishment and others were celebrated Wednesday night at the Four Seasons, at a fete hosted by Sony BMG catalog label Legacy, which is in the process of reissuing the boatload of material Gamble and Huff steered. A well-heeled crowd that included a rapt Elvis Costello and Hanson brothers Taylor and Zac gathered in the hotel’s ballroom to sip lobster bisque and hear Gamble and Huff reminisce about the days when soul called for great songcraft and even a social conscience.

It was a great evening for sharp hats and shoes. 1980s-generation soul producers Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, who played celebrity interviewers, wore crisp black fedoras reminiscent of the Blues Brothers. Gamble sported his signature fez. Huff’s oxfords sure looked like snakeskin, and singer Billy Paul, who joined the panel midway through, even wore spats.

The conversation matched this high style. Lewis guided the first part of the evening, asking the duo about their early days and the eventual formation of the Philadelphia International label.

“We met in an elevator,” recalled Huff, the quieter of the pair, except when he took to the piano onstage. Both men were working as songwriters in the Shubert Building, Philly’s equivalent to New York’s Brill Building. “We were the only two black guys coming in and out of the building,” Huff said. “We had to say something to each other!”

Soon enough, they were partners. Huff would sit at an upright piano, Gamble would provide melodies and lyrics, and they’d keep a small tape recorder going at all times. “That tape recorder was a life saver,” Gamble said. “We really didn’t know what we were doing while we were doing it, it all came so fast.”

Commercial ambitions drove the pair, who modeled their business after Motown Records and went through several label configurations before settling on Philadelphia International in the early 1970s. But they wanted Philly International to nurture artists’ distinctive gifts as well as their sales potential. “Nobody in that organization sang alike, nobody played alike,” declared Paul, who learned to sing under the tutelage of jazz masters John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. “Everybody had their own individuality.”

“Ain’t he got a strange voice?” Gamble exclaimed after Paul sang a snippet of his 1974 song “Thanks for Saving My Life” in an ethereal tenor. The singer just chuckled.

Such exchanges suited the night’s familial mood. Jam, who arrived halfway through the program, repped for the music geeks with questions about production values and bass effects. Gamble pointed out that he and Huff benefited greatly from timing, coming into their own just as FM radio started turning listeners on to soul in stereo.

“The FM stations playing R&B gave us a tremendous edge,” he said. “It brought a whole new dimension to editing and mixing songs.” Gamble and Huff’s luscious, complicated productions suited the serious subject matter of their songs, whether they were romantic dramas like Harold Melvin’s “The Love I Lost” or political anthems like many of the O’Jays hits.

No mention was made of the recent lawsuit filed by O’Jays founders Eddie Levert Sr. and Walter Williams calling for back royalties, though Gamble made a quick quip about not receiving royalties for his and Huff’s own backing vocals on songs by the Stylistics and Pendergrass.

That legal conflict comes in the midst of industry accolades. Not only is the Legacy deal renewing interest in the Philly International catalog (the excellent comp “Conquer the World: The Lost Soul of Philadelphia International Records” highlights lesser-known artists such as Bunny Sigler and Ruth McFadden), Gamble and Huff will be toasted at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, receiving the inaugural Ahmet Ertegun Award.

The Four Seasons affair was more intimate, and supremely casual. Spinning stories and sometimes breaking into song — Paul’s impromptu rendition of his biggest hit, “Me & Mrs. Jones,” put the crowd into a tizzy — Gamble and Huff came off as old friends who’d had the pleasure of a long collaboration, and just happened to make an indelible mark on pop history.

“The best thing about me and Gamble is that we like each other as men,” said Huff. “We enjoy each other’s company. We worked together every day…”

“For 45 years,” concluded Gamble. “It takes respect!”

And when it came to defining Philly soul itself, it wasn’t surprising that Gamble, the artful lyricist, did it best. “Uplifting the human mind,” he said, asked by an audience member to define the label’s mission. “So you can think and enjoy life, and comprehend your environment. That’s what the music meant to us.”

– Ann Powers

Photo: Kenneth Gamble, Elvis Costello and Leon Huff. Credit: www.markowensphoto.com